This combat is getting wheelie intense.
A decide pumped the brakes Wednesday on Mayor Adams’ plan to tear out a problem-plagued protected bike lane alongside Brooklyn’s Bedford Avenue — a transfer Hizzoner made after an e-biker on the trail slammed right into a toddler.
Brooklyn Supreme Court docket Decide Carolyn Walker-Diallo dominated that Metropolis Corridor officers had “abused their discretion” by ordering the 1.5-mile stretch of the main thoroughfare be returned to its pre-protected state.
The bike lane will stay in place till a court docket listening to in August.
“We’re ecstatic that a judge is currently blocking the city from ripping up street safety improvements,” Ben Furnas, the Government Director of Transportation Options, mentioned in an announcement.
“We know that City Hall’s plans aren’t just wrongheaded, they’re illegal — and we will keep fighting for safe streets every step of the way. We won’t let anyone make our streets more dangerous. Mayor Adams, we’ll see you in court.”
The ruling comes simply at some point after a biking activist group, Transportation Options, filed a lawsuit asking a decide to dam the sudden removing plans — a transfer the group argued would make the roadway “more dangerous.”
Walker-Diallo dominated that the Adams administration had violated metropolis code and “acted arbitrarily, capriciously, and illegally, and they abused their discretion” by not consulting native elected officers or the group earlier than making the announcement final week.
Metropolis Corridor, nonetheless, contended they took under consideration suggestions from Williamsburg locals when deciding to revamp the trail.
“After several dangerous incidents — many of which involved children getting seriously hurt — the Adams administration listened to the community’s concerns and decided to reconfigure the bike lane to its original model while still maintaining safety measures,” Metropolis Corridor advised The Submit in an announcement.
“It’s unfortunate that elected leaders are intentionally disregarding the needs and safety of the very community who elected them to be their representative. We will address this matter in court where we are confident we will prevail.”
Adams revealed in an X publish final Friday that the protected bike lane, which sits between the curb and parked automobiles between Willoughby and Flushing avenues, can be eliminated following “several incidents — including some involving children.”
It additionally comes on the heels of his plan to introduce a 15 mph velocity restrict for e-bikers, who’re infamous for dashing and weaving via metropolis site visitors.
Activists declare town was planning to start development as early as Wednesday.
Adams is looking for to revive the bike lane again to its unique location on the street, alongside transferring site visitors with out protecting bollards or boundaries.
The choice was seemingly impressed by the stunning Might 28 crash that despatched a 3-year-old woman flying throughout the pavement after an e-biker utilizing the bike lane slammed into her — an incident that exploded right into a political firefight between mayor and Williamsburg Metropolis Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who signed a letter of assist for the lawsuit.
Video of the accident confirmed the small woman speeding out from the parked automotive and straight into the biker’s path, leaving him little room to hit the brakes.
Fortuitously, the woman was merely sideswiped and was left with minor accidents to her decrease abdomen.
Simply two weeks earlier, nonetheless, one other baby was hospitalized after being struck by a bicycle owner whereas exiting a college bus on the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Myrtle Avenue.
Greater than 53 accidents associated to bicycles, e-bikes, and scooters have been reported on Bedford Avenue since 2024, public data present.
